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Disinterested, disengaged and disproportionally popular, Kimi Raikkonen is one of the great puzzles of modern Formula 1.

He offers nothing to the media, yet remains one of the most powerful sources of interest. He has one of the most underwhelming recent records of any driver on the grid, yet is immune from the criticism that ravages others. He is withdrawn to the point of being standoffish, yet fans think his words and actions are gold dust.

Raikkonen's exit from Ferrari at the end of the year at least ends one frustrating part of the Kimi conundrum. No longer will anybody need to ponder why he is still in a seat any other driver would likely have lost by now.

Raikkonen's enduring popularity is a curious anomaly. He is difficult, has a tendency to give short answers with little consideration, and relies on the same phrases and soundbites to get by. That has led to a few amusing TV clips and radio messages, which has helped him obtain an odd cult-hero status in F1 and is probably to blame for his protection from the sort of judgement the likes of Stoffel Vandoorne or Marcus Ericsson or Brendon Hartley have been hit with this year, if not before.

Unfortunately for Raikkonen, even Ferrari has run out of patience. Charles Leclerc is in, Raikkonen is out, and the fact he has sought refuge at Sauber, to prolong his stay in F1 for two more seasons, shows leaving Ferrari was absolutely not the driver's choice.

The cruel irony for Raikkonen is in the timing of Ferrari's decision. Ferrari could have easily justified this call at the end of 2015, after he was blitzed by first Fernando Alonso and then Sebastian Vettel. It could have done the same last year, as Vettel led Ferrari's title challenge against Mercedes, while Raikkonen's limp effort was barely enough to beat the Red Bulls.

Instead, Ferrari has shown him the door during a season in which he has been much stronger. His peaks have been higher, and he is third in the drivers' championship - ahead of the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas - and by every significant measure this is his best campaign since rejoining Ferrari in 2014.

Mercedes' own driver dilemma, keeping Bottas alongside Lewis Hamilton at the expense of its rising star Esteban Ocon, shows how difficult it can be to manage a young driver's promotion when you have two drivers doing the business in the senior team. But Ferrari has decided that Leclerc is the better bet in the short-term as well as the long-term. That speaks volumes for what it thinks Raikkonen is capable of beyond 2018.

Raikkonen is secure to the point of being boring, simple to the point of being average - the ultimate safe pair of hands
Ultimately, Raikkonen's mini-resurgence has not been enough. Perhaps, because the bar was not set very high, this feels like a negligible gain in the grand scheme of things. Raikkonen has trailed his team-mate by more than 100 points in three of the last four years. Though the deficit does not look as dramatic this season, Raikkonen is still yet to win a race - and comparing his 2018 numbers with Vettel shows the gulf between the two remains.

Raikkonen has led 45 laps across four grands prix; Vettel 341 laps across nine. Raikkonen does have more podium finishes - nine, to Vettel's eight - but only one pole, at Monza, to Vettel's five. Most importantly, Vettel has five wins. Raikkonen's last success remains his 2013 Australian Grand Prix victory with Lotus.

One of the most damning numbers is Raikkonen's qualifying form. He is 0.263 seconds slower than Vettel on average, with only Ericsson (to Leclerc at Sauber) and Vandoorne (to Fernando Alonso at McLaren) faring worse. Vandoorne has been dropped, while Ericsson's future hangs in the balance and he is considered by many to not be worthy of staying in F1. That's the sort of company Raikkonen now keeps on pure pace. Why not in wider conversation?

Raikkonen's qualifying record is solid, but nothing else. His efforts on Sunday are exactly the same - look at his opening-lap record, which stands at 33 races (Abu Dhabi 2016) since he ended a first lap in a better position than he started. Whether it is in a qualifying session or a race, Raikkonen is secure to the point of being boring, simple to the point of being average - the ultimate safe pair of hands.

That has appealed to Ferrari for some time, since he got his act together following a dismal comeback year with the team's bad 2014 challenger. Giving him the benefit of the doubt for that woeful season, Raikkonen has performed more respectably at his supposed task: help Vettel do the business.

Yet even Ferrari wants to fight for titles more than it wants simplicity and security in its line-up, and Raikkonen's tepid form interrupted by sporadic bursts in performance have worn out the patience at Maranello.

Imagine the frustration within Ferrari when, after its former chief Sergio Marchionne made the call to replace Raikkonen with Leclerc, Raikkonen suddenly went on a five-race podium streak. Where was that in Monaco, where Vettel hounded Daniel Ricciardo for the win, or in Canada where the German took a mighty victory? Why was it not present when it counted?

Raikkonen is often credited for being good at developing a car, or helping get the most out of Vettel, but a driver needs to be judged on his merits as an individual as well. His feedback may be good, but he is clearly limited in what he can do with the car he helps produce.

He may still feel he's good enough to race in F1, and as a world champion he is an asset to the grid. But is he good enough to be at Ferrari? He hasn't been for some time. Yes, Raikkonen has been an overall upgrade on Felipe Massa, but he was terrible in 2014 and took comprehensive beatings from Vettel in '15 and '17 - other drivers have been dropped for less, just ask Vandoorne or Daniil Kvyat.

It is difficult to view Raikkonen's exit from Ferrari as anything but overwhelmingly correct. It's right for Ferrari, which gets a highly-rated young driver who should produce the goods and go on to lead the team for years to come.

It's right for F1, because it promotes a major talent to a top seat and removes a mediocre performer from centre-stage - although there could yet be a negative consequence if it turns out Raikkonen going to Sauber denies Antonio Giovinazzi, another highly-rated young talent, the full-time F1 debut it looked like he would earn.

A Raikkonen victory before the end of 2018 would be a great story but it would not show that he deserves to still be in a top-line F1 car
Being generous, you could compare Raikkonen to Bottas and say that in a straight fight between the number twos, Raikkonen is doing the better job. But the points table lies.

Bottas had to trade a win for a DNF in Azberaijan, a second for a sixth in France and a likely podium for a DNF in Austria. He also lost points because of strategy in Britain and Hungary, then started at the back in Belgium because of a grid penalty.

Even if you factor in Raikkonen's own setbacks - retirement in Bahrain, Spain and Belgium - Bottas comes out ahead. Especially when you assess how well he compares to Hamilton in qualifying. The gap between the two is just 0.086s in Hamilton's favour on average, one of the smallest differences on the grid, and would be even better but for Bottas's anomalously bad Monza effort.

It's hard not to feel some sympathy for Raikkonen, even if it's purely restricted to the fact he just qualified on pole for, and nearly won, Ferrari's home race in Italy. But in reality it's just another near-miss to add to the collection, another example of Raikkonen nearly being good enough to do the job, but not quite.

A Raikkonen victory before the end of 2018 would be a great story but it would not show that he deserves to still be in a top-line F1 car. It would not prove his career is enjoying an Indian summer, or that Ferrari is wrong to be axing him. These are all part of the fallacy that Ferrari is where Raikkonen deserves to be.

A victory would just be is a reminder that Raikkonen can be good enough to do it, but is not good enough to do it as consistently as required to justify driving for one of F1's best teams.

It's about time Raikkonen moved to a place more fitting of his fading powers.

With regards to Ocon i would of though the most obiovus choice would of been to send Ocon to Williams to partner up alongside Kubica (or Sirotkin).

Mercedes has ties with Williams and should provide some incentives now that Stroll money has dissapeared, that way they keep a future star like Ocon in the sport and have the option of bringing him to the team in 2020/2021 should Ham leave or Bottas fail to deliver.

"Mission Winnow is a new global initiative by the Scuderia’s long-time partner, Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI), to create engagement around the role of science, technology and innovation."

Phillip Morris, the same people who bring you smokes and the fun time that is lung cancer now... “Through Mission Winnow we want to let the world know how we have changed, to share our pride in the transformation that the people of PMI have achieved, as well as our dedication to rigorous science and innovation that can lead to a better future.”

Might be hard given Phillip Morris are their major sponsor. Have been for decades. Even after every other team stopped taking tobacco money in 2007. They on sell the space on the car to the sponsors you see and out of the goodness of their hearts only leave a logo for Ferrari that looks alot like that for their most well known brand of smokes.

But now PM "science" apparently tells the world vaping is every bit as good for you as eating your vegetables....

Anyway Mercedes 1 -2 in practice 1 at Suzuka. Another good result for Hamilton and the WDC is all but over.

Pressure is a funny thing. Some thrive under it, others fold. The Japanese Grand Prix laid bare the difference between a secure Mercedes team on the brink of yet another world championship double and an insecure Ferrari squad seemingly intent on self-sabotage.

Lewis Hamilton's accomplished victory, taking pole position, leading every lap and only being denied a 'grand slam' by Sebastian Vettel's pace on the penultimate lap, was immaculate.

But for Vettel, fastest lap was the most feeble of consolation prizes as he finished sixth at the end of a weekend of mishaps both for himself and Ferrari.

While Mercedes cruised serenely towards its inevitable front-low lockout and one-two, Ferrari struggled. The pace was not there, and the extraordinary decision to send both Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen out on intermediate rubber at the start of Q3 - on a dry track - was a big mistake.

Team principal Maurizio Arrivabene heavily criticised his squad for that, and it was a mistake compounded by Vettel going off at Spoon Curve on what was his only Q3 shot before the rain.

Even Raikkonen got in on the act, kissing the kerb on entry to the same corner and catching a moment, costing him third on the grid to Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

As Mercedes appears to have fallen back on its tried and tested processes to get the best out of itself, Ferrari has become increasingly 'grabby'.

Ferrari's alarming slump in pace relative to Mercedes over the past three race weekends is one thing, but the attempts to compensate for it with needless gambles speaks of a team ill at ease with itself.

That punt in qualifying was followed by supersoft-shod Vettel becoming over-eager in the race after storming from eighth on the grid to fourth on the first lap.

Brendon Hartley's wheelspinning start meant Vettel jinked to the right on the run to the first corner having immediately taken seventh, before dispatching the other Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly through the Turn 2 right-hander. He then squeezed past the compliant Romain Grosjean's Haas through the right-hand kink before the hairpin.

Verstappen's mistake at the end of the first lap handed Vettel his fourth place. Running ahead of Raikkonen, Verstappen locked up and took to the grass at the chicane, rejoining as Raikkonen justifiably attempted to go around the corner while keeping out of the Red Bull's way.

Light contact was made and Raikkonen was forced briefly off the track, allowing Vettel to nab the position. It also earned Verstappen a five-second penalty for rejoining the circuit in an irresponsible manner.

"As soon as he realises somebody is close or next to him, he tries to push when you shouldn't push anymore"
Sebastian Vettel on Max Verstappen
"I braked a little bit too late into the chicane, so I did everything I could to get back onto the track," said Verstappen. "And I think I did it in a safe way, because I was not crazy-fast onto the track.

"But Kimi chose the wrong line in the chicane. He could have also just waited for me to come back on the track. We touched a little bit, but I think it's really ridiculous, those five seconds."

Raikkonen, who picked up a little damage in the collision and struggled for the rest of the race, avoided getting too het-up about the incident.

"I tried to go outside and leave as much as I could," said Raikkonen. "But he obviously came kind of off the track over the grass kerb part so maybe could not turn more, and maybe he just ended up there. In an ideal world, he should have left a bit more.

"We lost quite a lot of downforce, but there's not much you can do after that because it is quite a sensitive area where you got hit. And after that, it was pretty difficult."

The safety car, deployed on lap four, allowed Vettel to get his breath back. The caution was to sweep up the shards the Haas of Kevin Magnussen had scattered around the track, particularly at the exit of Spoon Curve as he toured round with his a flailing left-rear Pirelli.

Charles Leclerc had hit the rear of the Haas while the pair disputed 12th place at the start of lap two when Magnussen darted to his right at the same time as the Sauber moved to pass him.

"He is, and will always be, stupid - it's a fact," said Leclerc over the radio. The stewards took no action because the pair moved right simultaneously, but it was easy to sympathise with Leclerc.

Vettel looked like he might threaten Verstappen at the restart at the end of lap seven, but got a rear-end wobble on the power coming out of the final chicane.

He then saw his chance when Verstappen's engine briefly de-rated due to a lack of battery power for the 160bhp MGU-K to deploy fully on lap eight.

Vettel jinked to the inside in an attempt to pass Verstappen at Spoon. He was absolutely justified in doing so, even though Verstappen inevitably gave him little room.

But what Vettel misjudged was the level of grip available and he understeered just enough to lock wheels with Verstappen.

Both cars picked up some minor damage, but while Verstappen kept going and rejoined from the run-off just in time to cut in front of Raikkonen and hold third, Vettel spun to the back of the field with 17 cars between him and his title rival.

"The gap was there but as soon as he saw me obviously he defended," said Vettel. "But I had the inside. As soon as he realises somebody is close or next to him, he tries to - in my opinion - push when you shouldn't push anymore.

"Look at [the incident with] Kimi - [Verstappen]'s off the track and he comes back, and if Kimi just drives on they'd collide. But it's not always right that the other guy has to move. We're all racing."

Verstappen, not to mention the stewards who considered this to be a racing incident after investigating, did not agree. He suggested it was similar to the clash in April's Chinese GP when roles were reversed and Verstappen clattered into Vettel with a misjudged move at the hairpin.

Hamilton was pulling his usual trick of disguising virtuosity as tedium
The stewards' verdict was that neither was wholly or predominantly at fault, which is reasonable, although Verstappen's annoyance was entirely understandable.

"I thought it was a bit like China this year with me," said Verstappen. "He could have easily gone past me on the straight one lap later or so. But then you see that even the most experienced drivers make mistakes here."

The upshot was Vettel was no longer a podium threat. Hamilton, meanwhile, was pulling his usual trick of disguising virtuosity as tedium on a weekend that seemed so simple for him, and avoiding any such scrapes.

After taking pole, and, along with his team-mate, earning the right to start on softs having used the compound to set his Q2 time, he could barely contain himself and told anyone who would listen what a great time he was having behind the wheel of the Mercedes W09. And who could blame him?

After a perfect qualifying came a good start, with Hamilton comfortably holding the lead while Valtteri Bottas slotted into second place. The lead was 1.341 seconds by the end of the lap, with Verstappen already another 2.6s behind Bottas.

Hamilton timed the restart well, gunning it as he completed a tyre-warm weave on the approach to 130R at the end of the back straight, immediately establishing a 1.3s lead over Bottas. That became 2.2s next time round, then 2.6s as he asserted his authority.

Hamilton was just over 5.8s clear when Bottas dived into the pits at the end of lap 23 of 53. Although usual procedure is for the leader to have priority, Hamilton had a big enough gap to be safe from the undercut to let Bottas go first even though there wasn't, at that stage, any big threat from behind.

Verstappen had pitted from third two laps before Bottas, by which time he had slipped almost 10s behind the Finn, with the gap once both had stopped at 9.5s.

Up front, Hamilton was able to make his stop to switch to mediums and emerge with a lead reduced to 4.4s. The top three broadly held station in the ensuing laps, until Bottas, also on mediums, started losing ground on lap 28.

At the start of that lap, he had 10.2s over soft-shod Verstappen, but over the following 12 laps the gap closed to nothing. On the final two of those laps, Verstappen was over a second faster, and soon piling on the pressure.

Bottas held firm and Verstappen never quite managed to launch an attack, but the Finn did make an error and cut the chicane during the pursuit.

Verstappen, carrying a little floor damage from his earlier Ferrari clashes, had one final push on the last lap, but locked up at the hairpin and ran deep, extinguishing what was already the faintest hope of making a move.

"Initially during the race, everything felt good, I knew what I had to do and I was really just executing the plan," said Bottas. "The pace felt good. But at the end of the second stint I had some blistering, which made it a bit more tricky, but anyway, for me the job was to get to the finish line in P2."

Surprisingly, it was Daniel Ricciardo rather than Raikkonen who rounded out the top four. Ricciardo started 15th after a throttle actuator failure early in Q2, but made short work of clearing the midfield. He did so by the chicane on lap 13, passing Grosjean for fifth, and then set about closing on Raikkonen.

Ricciardo brought the gap down from 7.7s to 4.2s when Raikkonen inexplicably peeled into the pits to take on medium Pirellis at the end of lap 17.

This was a puzzling strategic error by Ferrari, and it's unclear whether it was a serious attempt to undercut ahead of Verstappen, who was by this stage over six seconds up the road but still in range thanks to the five-second penalty he had to serve at his stop, or a consequence of the fear of Ricciardo closing.

Either way, it left Raikkonen mired in traffic. With Verstappen running to the end of lap 21 before pitting to take on softs, the time lost meant there was no chance for Raikkonen to take third, even with the Verstappen's penalty.

Ricciardo, meanwhile, was able to run to lap 23 and stop for mediums and emerge ahead of Raikkonen. Ricciardo did have a tyre-range advantage in that first stint over Raikkonen thanks to starting on softs, and was quicker, but it was strange that Ferrari made it so easy for Red Bull to jump him.

Vettel was making his recovery to sixth while this was going on. None of the midfield drivers showed any inclination to put up much of a fight, save perhaps for a fleeting flash of futile belligerence from Fernando Alonso, as Vettel spent much of the afternoon overtaking sundry 'Class B' runners - some of them twice as he had to make his pitstop for softs at half-distance.

Making 20-odd passes in the race was of little solace given Vettel's sixth place means Hamilton could clinch the world championship with three races to spare at Austin in two weeks.

But that's just a question of mathematics, as realistically we all know this title was lost before the teams even got to Suzuka. The instability at Ferrari, in stark contrast to the serenity at Mercedes, is proof of that.

There's no question the Mercedes is now the quicker car. Ferrari has reason to be disappointed with that and the apparent loss of some of its power advantage has led to all sorts of rumours, but what reflects badly on the team is that it has started making too many errors.

One of the first rules of winning a championship is you need to do the best you can on any given day. In qualifying, Ferrari's intermediate tyre gamble was motivated by a refusal to accept third and fourth. If you can be third, be third - don't throw it away in a vainglorious attempt to change the inevitable.

Ferrari would have looked heroic had the gamble paid off, certainly, but the fact remains that the other eight cars in Q3 all played the conditions in front of them and went for slicks. You could say it's ambition, but Arrivabene's reaction to the blunder is evidence of a team in which the pressure has got to the personnel - perhaps the leadership in particular.

Hamilton, meanwhile, can barely believe what is happening. Just over a month ago, this was one of the fiercest drivers' championship battles in history, with the lead having changed hands five times and Hamilton only ahead thanks to wet weather virtuosity in Germany and Hungary, and a few costly errors from Vettel.

Now, he's got one hand and four fingers of the other on the championship.